So I've been addicted to this app on my iPhone called Opinionaided. It's this thing where people post questions (or in reality, anything at all) and you can offer your opinion and/or advice. I tried it on a whim, because the screenshots the developers posted had it being used for fashion advice and I sure do love fashion!
What I've really been into, though, was giving advice in the Dating & Relationships sections. I'm not sure who the target audience is for the app but I've been seeing a lot of teenagers using it and they have pretty much the same problems I had when I was a teenager, so I felt compelled to offer advice. I guess I didn't really know what to expect when I started -- I'm sort of used to all the trolls on WoW and stuff -- but I've been getting a lot of sincere people who really appreciate the advice. Actually, most people I offer advice to really appreciate it and seem to benefit from it.
It got me thinking, thanks to Get-It-Done-Guy Stever Robbins and his book, if I could somehow turn that skill into a career. That is not to say that I somehow want to make money off of these people -- I just want to do this for a living! It makes me happy helping people. I want to be able to do it all the time, not just whenever I have free time. I often don't really find myself with enough free time to spend anyway!
I imagine there are websites for this sort of thing already, but it might be cool to try it out somehow. I think the internet would be a much better place to reach a lot of people, but there really is nothing better than a good old-fashioned face-to-face conversation with someone. The problem there of course is that sort of thing I'd have to charge for, I think, if I wanted to do this for a living.
So my idea is to maybe create a site, just a basic one maybe, with a form that lets people ask a question. Over time, I could probably build pre-written answers to common questions and just post them up and add a search engine to the site. Now, as far as making money -- I'd need advertisements I suppose. A website would only really cost me, what, $5-$10 at this point? Then I'd need people to access the site. When I was looking at web hosts, most of them offered free advertising credit on Yahoo and Google.
What I like about Opinionaided, though, is that it's available on iPods and stuff -- making it really fast and convenient. A website like the one I was thinking of requires time to respond, so people would have to wait. They would, of course, get better quality answers than what Opinionaided could offer, but I don't know that it would be worth it for people. The teenage population is totally mobile now, aren't they? Maybe I could have people be able to text a number or something and then generate a response. I don't know if I could keep it under 140 characters or that the cost of something like that would be worth it, but it's something I could think about.
I mean, things like TFLN and Shit My Dad Says takes off crazy fast with popularity -- I'd just have to get it started. Would there be a market for it, though? I'm not really sure. I'd have to do some research first. I imagine someone's already thought of it, and I don't want to get into any messy copyright things. The last thing I want is a movie like The Social Network made about me, amirite? Although Mark's pretty damn rich now. I might not mind it. Since MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS. I'LL BE HAPPY. LOLS
That's a lie. I wouldn't be happy knowing I made someone miserable on my way up. I might be able to buy them off, though! That would be neat. I wonder why Mark didn't? Maybe he did? I guess I should probably watch that movie. Maybe it'll be part of my research. What can I say? I'm thorough.
Anyway, I'm just sort of going on and on and don't really know what I'm talking about anymore. I just know that I want to help people. That's what it comes down to. I want to help people and I want it to be what I do all my life.
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